Residential Reclamation – REFRESH
This refrigerant reclamation pilot program facilitates increased home AC refrigerant recovery rates and supports the reclamation marketAbout REFRESH
The Refrigerant F-gas Reclamation Support for Home HVAC (REFRESH) program is a refrigerant recovery pilot designed for residential HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) contractors participating in California’s building decarbonization efforts. The pilot aims to increase the recovery of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and other high-global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and support a circular refrigerant reclamation market.
REFRESH is conducted in partnership with the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) Equitable Building Decarbonization (EBD) Statewide Direct Install Program. A-Gas US, Inc. and Hudson Technologies were selected via a competitive solicitation as the program’s official refrigerant reclaimers.
CARB anticipates that this program alone could remove over 10,000 high-GWP refrigerant-containing air conditioning units. Based on funding availability, CARB and NASRC may expand the pilot beyond the CEC’s EBD Statewide Direct Install Program to other state and utility incentive programs.
How REFRESH Works
REFRESH works by incentivizing proper refrigerant recovery, establishing direct relationships between the program’s U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-certified refrigerant reclaimers and HVAC contractors and their technicians.
Contractor enrollment is managed by CEC’s EBD Statewide Direct Install Program regional administrators. Participating contractors must meet training and experience requirements established in CEC’s program guidelines.
Why Reclamation?
While federal and state laws prohibit the intentional venting of HFC refrigerants during the servicing and disposal of air conditioning equipment, compliance remains low. Refrigerant recovery and reclamation in the residential sector can significantly lower HFC/GHG emissions.
California’s investment in residential decarbonization and transition to heat pumps will likely result in the removal of thousands of old HVAC units, offering a unique opportunity to disrupt the refrigerant recovery status quo.
Recovery Best Practices
These videos were produced by A-Gas and Hudson Technologies as part of the REFRESH Program. We thank both organizations for sharing their expertise in refrigerant recovery best practices.